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Home / VA: Time To Redraw How States Draw DistrictsVA: Time To Redraw How States Draw Districts
Last Updated on Thursday, 7 February 2008 06:09 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 7 February 2008 03:07
Some would say the current system works. The process is political by nature – you can’t take politics out of it.
One of the more egregious examples of circumventing the democratic process is the decennial practice of gerrymandering undertaken by the party in power in the Virginia General Assembly.Every 10 years, the majority party carefully carves out legislative districts to give itself optimum partisan advantage in subsequent elections. Party leaders shamelessly draw district lines to protect their own interests and diminish the electoral chances of the opposition party.
Democrats did it for decades. In what was essentially a one-party state for the better part of a century, Democrats routinely shaped districts to protect the status quo.